Hope Underground: The Chilean Miners and Their Story of Faith and Miracles...Review

About the book:
"God has never left us down here"
Thirty–three miners – trapped beneath the Chilean desert. _their situation, at first, seemed hopeless. Yet instead of abandoning hope, the miners, their families, communities of faith, the Chilean government and rescue workers united in an effort to achieve the impossible. What drove these people to defy failure and persevere against all odds? How did a small, white butterfly, a wayward probe, and a '34th miner' all play a significant role in the unfolding of this incredible story? While most reports of this stirring drama focus on what human effort can achieve, Hope Underground reveals the spiritual nature of the miners' experience, highlighting amazing details of how God's providence turned a potential tragedy into the most successful mining rescue of all time.

I don't think there are many people who didn't follow the saga of the miners trapped in a Chilean mine, and there are even fewer who didn't watch their miraculous rescue.  But, what happened to them while they were in the mine, and what happened to their families and the community who held a vigil outside the mine entrance?

Carlos Parra Diaz, a pastor who became the Chaplain of Camp Hope, shares his story of what happened.  Pastor Diaz went to the mine to help the people, to pray for them.  He soon found himself in the unofficial position of camp chaplain.  He came to know the families of the miners and the politicians who came and went from Camp Hope.  Once communication with the miners was established, Pastor Diaz was instrumental in sending 33 tiny Bibles down to the miners, to help sustain their faith.

There were some language and sentence structure issues that were simply due to differences in translation and were fairly easy to overlook.  The book is a terrific account of an amazing 10 weeks.  The Camp Hope community was a community in every sense of the word.  People who came together during a crisis to sustain and help one another.  Truly amazing.  Pastor Diaz shares a straight-forward, honest narrative, and shows us that God is indeed aware of His children and hears our prayers.

Thanks to Audra Jennings of the B&B Media Group for the opportunity to review this book.  You can learn more about Carlos Parra Diaz here.  You can purchase your own copy here.

Read 11/11

* * * *
4/5 Stars